Get the word out: Information systems security is part of everyone's responsibility

If a picture is worth a thousand words, you've just downloaded over 5,000 words worth of training materials.

To protect information managed and stored on corporate computers—and the computers themselves—every employee is responsible for doing his or her share. If you're like most IT shops, you've published policies and sent out global e-mail messages about best practices to end users of your systems. In this document, you'll find another trick you can add to your awareness campaign: posters you can display on the bulletin boards in your company cafeteria, include in e-mail messages to all users from the IT department, or add to your agenda for new-employee orientation.

Can a handful of posters help reduce help desk calls and increase awareness about security issues? The answer is, yes. If just one end user reads the poster and refrains from watering a plant on top of a computer monitor or another end user stops writing his or her password on a sticky-note hidden under the monitor, consider the posters a success.

Feel free to customize these documents for your shop. The posters I've included here are:

· Log Off Before You Run Off

· Please Don't Water the Equipment

· IT Corporate Software Policy

· Protect Your Password

· Help Desk Contact Information

LOG OFF

BEFORE YOU RUN OFF

If you leave your automobile running and unattended,